Plumb level



(No Model.)

C. RITZ.

PLUMB LEVEL. No. 879,662. Patented Mar. 20, 1888.

i UNITED STATES PATENT Ormea.

CHARLES RITZ, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK. l

PLUMB-LEVEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 379,662, dated March 20, 1888. Application filed December 19, 1837. Serial No. 258,322. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom, it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, CHnRLEs RITZ, of Rochester, iu the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in aCornbined Plumb and Level, which improvement is fully set forth in the following specification and shown in the accompanying drawings. I

The object of my invention is to produce a combined gravity plumb and level without `spirit or cord, for the use of mechanics and builders, the same being hereinafter fully described. and more particularly pointed out in the claim.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan of the device, the plummet being shown in various positions by full and dotted lines; Fig. 2, a side elevation of the same, seen as indicated by arrow in Fig. l, parts below the plummet being sectioned as on the dotted line .fr in Fig. l; Fig. 3, an elevation of the metal frame, showing a modification of the same; Fig. 4, a plan of the parts shown in Fig. 3, a part being broken away; and Fig. 5, a diametrical section of the ring or frame, taken upon the dotted line 1/ in Fig. 4 and viewed as indicated by the arrow pointed thereon, the pointer being transversely sectioned upon the dotted line a.

Referring to the parts shown in the drawings, A is a ring, preferably made of metal, constituting a frame secured to a strip of wood, B, forming a rule or holder having parallel edges and made of such dimensions as may be most convenient. A rule made of hard wellseasoned wood five inches wide by one and one-fourth inches thick and three feet long is a good size for builders use. The rule is formed with a circular cavity, Z, in which to receive the frame, the latter being secured in place by means of ordinary screws passed through lugs k. The plummet, preferably made of lead, is suspended from au axial piu, a, at the exact center of the circular frame at the end of a radial arm, (l, rigid with the frame and divided at its free end to receive the hanger c of the plummet.

The plummet is provided at its pointed end with an axial pointer, e, which, as shown in Figs. l and 2, swings just clear of the inner curved surface of the frame. The frame is formed with marks at f and g g', parallel with its axis and radially upon the face of the frame, the former, j', being in an imaginary longitudinal line parallel with the edges of the rule B and passing through the axis of the pivot a, while the lines g g are in a diametrical line of the circular frame at right angles to said longitudinal line.

It will now be understood that while the plummet swings freely upon the pivot a its axis will always be vertical from gravity when the plane ofthe frame is held vertically, and that when the pointer e points to the mark f, for instance, the edges of the rule will be truly vertical; also, when the rule is turned in a vertical plane either to the right or left its edges will be truly horizontal when the pointer points to either mark g g. Other intermediate marks, 7L, similar to those at f and g g', may be put on the frame, according to the use to which the device is to be put.

Some of the circular frames I make with a slit, c', in each in a plane at right angles to the axis of the frame, in which case I make the pointer e sufficiently long to occupy the slit, as shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5. rlhis slit extends something more than half-way around the frame, so the plummet may swing fully ninety degrees either way from the central mark,f. The pointer, being within the slit, serves to hold the plummet within the frame and prevent it from swinging in a direction to or from the rule when the latter is carelessly carried in the hand or laid aside. The jaws of the supporting-arm d, as 'shown in Fig. 2,

serve to prevent this motion of the plummet;

but for some uses the device formed with a slit is preferable. Vhen the device is made with the slit, a projecting pointing-edge, o, is

formed at the side of the pointer e, to more eX- actly refer to the marksf, g, Src., on the frame.

In constructing the rule a circular hole, n, is usually formed, communicating between the cavity Z and the rear surface of the rule.

By means of this combined gravity plumb and level, builders and mechanics are enabled to test both the perpendicularity and horizontality of the parts of their work, and by its use the objectionable plun1b-line is avoided, and also the glass tubes filled with spirits.

IOO

This device is also serviceable for the civil Y engineer in determining approximately the having its axis coincidingwiththe axis of the degree of the declivity of hills, 85e., in topoframe, the pointer of the plummet occupying graphical Work. said slit in the frame and formed with a lat- What I claim as my invention iserallyprojecting pointing-edge, said frame 5 f In combination with a bar or rulegfa circubeing formed With lines or marks to be re- I5 lar frame secured thereto, formed with a slit ferred to by said pointing-edge.

occupying a plane parallel with the plane of OHAS. RITZ. the frame, a supporting-arm. rigid with the NVitnesses:

`"frame, and a plummet provided with an axial E. B. WHITMORE,

1c pointer suspended from said arm upon a pivot M. L MGDERMOTT. 

